End of the Year Survey 2016

Bookish Questions:

1. Best Book You Read In 2016?

Angelina: The Female of the Species (you can read my review here!) There were some parts that were hard to read BUT it left me breathless by the end. It felt real to me, it’s a book that sticks with me. It’s a book I find myself thinking back to.

2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?

Angelina: This is Our Story by Ashley Elston it sounded like a crazy, mysterious, thrilling book but I got none of those feelings. I was left off disappointed because it had so much potential.

Brianna: Caraval… Ok so I liked it BUT I think it was over hyped, so I get overly excited and ended up not liking it as much as I thought I would. It was magical but… not my favorite book like I thought it would be. But a 2016 released book… Scythe. It was interesting, just not as captivating as I thought it would be, I did like it though (not as much as I thought I would).

3. Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read?

Brianna: the ending of Empire of Storms blew me away. But to give some more love to a not as popular book… Vicarious I was expecting to like it, Vicarious exceeded my expectations and I could not, for the life of me, put it down. It was AMAZING.

5. Best series you started in 2016? Best Sequel of 2016? Best Series Ender of 2016?

Angelina: A Study in Charlotte was one of the best ones (also And I Darken). I tend to not really like retellings (A Study in Charlotte is kind of a retelling) but I did love it. Calamity was the best series ender, I LOVED Steelheart so much.

Brianna: Empire of Storms. The best series starter though was definitely The Thousandth Floor it was sparkling, and captivating, and I cannot wait to see what the next book holds. The ending took my breath away.

11. Most memorable character of 2016?

Brianna: Manon from Throne of Glass. I kind of love her character, she is so interesting to me and I want her to have her own book, mug, movie, coloring book, and everything XD. She is probably one of my all time favorite literary characters.

12. Most beautifully written book read in 2016?

Angelina: I don’t remember much about this one AND I didn’t write a review for it but I remember Wink, Poppy Midnight was written well (I think xD)

Brianna: Caraval was full of BEAUTIFUL writing! As far as 2016 books go… Empire of Storms, I just love Sarah J. Maas’s writing.

13. Most Thought-Provoking/ Life-Changing Book of 2016?

Angelina: Again I’m going to have to go with The Female of the Species, it points out double standards and talks about some real stuff.

19. Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship Of The Year

Angelina: I liked Lada and Radu’s sibling relationship from And I Darken (from what I remember). Family relationships aren’t really focused on T.T

Brianna: None. I don’t remember reading any non-romantic relationships that I adored so whatever. I’d like to read more friendships in 2017 tired of romance *sigh*

20. Favorite Book You Read in 2016 From An Author You’ve Read Previously

Angelina: Since I already mentioned Calamity, I guess I’ll go with The Hunt (The Cage #2) by Megan Shepherd. This series isn’t my favorite BUUUUUUT I can’t wait to see how it ends, the whole series keeps getting crazier and crazier.

26. Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2016?

Brianna: Swan Boy hands down, it was so realistic and hit me pretty hard. The writing was also very good.

27. Hidden Gem Of The Year?

Angelina: All the books I read xD no one reads the books I REALLY love T.T Seriously, Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies and A Cure for Suicide. Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies was SO WEIRD but super good! A Cure for Suicide was a quietly beautiful.

Brianna: The Impostor Queen, I haven’t heard too many people talking about it, so if you haven’t read it yet, DO IT! You will not regret it.

29. Most Unique Book You Read In 2016?

Brianna: Vassa in the Night HANDS DOWN! It was INCREDIBLE and introduced me to the wonderful world of magical realism 🙂 I love the originality of it, the writing, the story, all so beautiful and amazing.

30. Book That Made You The Most Mad (doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t like it)?

3. Best discussion/non-review post you had on your blog?

Brianna: I had a lot of fun putting together my Queen of Shadows reaction post, like A LOT of fun. I had a billion feelings after reading that book, it was amazing and I had to write a post gathering all my thoughts. Be wary of ENDING spoilers.

Angelina: NYCC! The only event I attended, and like Brianna said, we didn’t really go to the book panels. We were going to go to the Mr. Robot one but the line was WAYYYYY to long and they cut it off after a certain amount of people, so we went to a different panel xD

Brianna: The only event I participate in was NYCC and I spent most of my time at screenings and tv panels so :O none?

5. Best moment of bookish/blogging life in 2016?

Angelina: Meeting some nice people at NYCC and getting help from them since I had never been to a big city, or traveled on my own XD

Brianna: I got to meet some lovely bloggers at NYCC! SHOUT OUT to the awesome NYCC Book Blogger squad 🙂 it was fun guys!

6. Most challenging thing about blogging or your reading life this year?

Angelina: Reading because I didn’t read as much as I did last year. Last year I read 93 books, this year I read around 43, less than half!

Brianna: Reading. In general. For whatever reason, I was in a huge reading slump this year. My goal was to read 100 books which I did last year but this year… I read less than half of that. I was having a really hard time finding a book to read, and I kept picking up so many books I did NOT enjoy, so it made me want to read even less.

7. Most Popular Post This Year On Your Blog (whether it be by comments or views)?

Well since we’re always changing what platform we have our blog on (a habit we need to put to a stop xD) our most popular post is our Empire of Storms review with 498 views (our biggest one yet). The one in second place was our New York Comic Con 2016- A Book Lovers Guide with 176 views A HUGE difference.

8. Post You Wished Got A Little More Love?

Angelina: Book Blogging on Fire, I wish it got more comments. I spent two days working on that post and there are no comments T.T

9. Best bookish discovery (book related sites, book stores, etc.)?

Angelina: I agree with Brianna, Etsy 🙂

Brianna: Etsy in general, so many good stuff there 😛

10. Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year?

Angelina: No T.T well I am participating in 12 Days of Diversity but I’m not sure how far I’ll get…

Brianna: NOPE. I never complete my reading challenges so 😛

1. One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2016 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2017?

Angelina: The Midnight Star, I LOVE The Young Elites and still haven’t finished it (same with the Raven King T.T) WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?

Yay 😀 all of those were such good books! Vicarious and Female of the Species were good but hard to read in a way, both dealt with tough issues. Scythe had a really interesting story, and it’s going to have another book :D!The Memory Book was really emotional 😥 Hope you enjoy them, thank’s for stopping by XD!

I love this post! Riddled with links as it was, prepare for about 5 more comments from me! XD I love how many books you talked about- Eve Messenger keeps telling me I need to read The Graces, and I keep meaning to, but I just haven’t yet! Empire of Storms was… Ah… Insane. Brianna- have you read the ACOTAR series? If not, you definitely need to! The third book is coming out fairly soon, I believe!
It sounds like you guys both had a pretty good year, but ongoing reading slumps, and I just have to recommend to you both- My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand (and two other lovely ladies who I’m forgetting at this moment)! It’s a historical fiction, but don’t let that fool you- I don’t normally like historical fiction (too dusty) but this one is special. The writing is fun and light, and the voices are just absolutely hilarious! The book is thick, but it flies by in a flash. 😉
-Amy